REVIEW: Last Chance Cowboys: The Outlaw by Anna Schmidt
“‘Someone like me?’ Is that how you see me, Amanda? As someone people should fear?”
“I don’t know what to think,” she said. “One minute you seem so dangerous, and the next you’re sweet and caring and…”
He took a step closer, his eyes sweeping her face. “And which do you want me to be?” His voice was low; it sent shivers down her spine.
“Both,” she whispered, and lifted her face for a kiss.Amanda Porterfield longs to experience real adventure. So when she’s offered a position in bustling Tucson, she leaps at the chance despite unknown dangers—dangers like the mysterious Seth Grover.
As an undercover detective working to stop a gang of outlaws, Seth can’t afford the distractions a woman like Amanda inspires. Yet when the fiercely intelligent beauty is thrust into the middle of a heist gone wrong, Seth will fight for a future that may never be theirs…even if it means risking everything he holds dear.
Dear Ms. Schmidt,
We seen two of the four Porterfield siblings find their HEA and now it’s time for red-headed Amanda to have her adventure and get off the, in her opinion, boring family ranch. Not without plenty of warnings though as both her brother Jess and her mother have something to say about one tall, dark and handsome man neither of them think is any good.
As soon as Seth Grover sees Amanda he realizes that she’s trouble but the most beautiful trouble he’s seen in a while. She’s got flaming red hair which we all know is short hand for feisty and when she sees the six shooter he’s packing, he can see she’s excited rather than afraid. Oh and her brother, the town Marshall has already warning Seth off of his baby sister. Amanda’s mother doesn’t hide her suspicions about him either. Seth is smart and decides he needs to get out of town to avoid tangling with any Porterfields as well as following up on a tip about the gang of outlaws he’s been after for years.
As luck would have it, Amanda gets her chance to get away from home in the same boarding house where Seth is biding his time and checking out possible targets the robbers might hit. Seth is also trying to find his baby brother whom he fears might have hooked up with the Stock brothers as a way to have his own adventures. Poor Seth is up to his eyebrows in these adventurous people.
Amanda’s new position as a tutor for the children of an officious banker in Tucson puts her in a position to see that one of them plus Seth are doing a lot of strange things including riding out at night. Rumors are starting in town about her employer but in his children she finds two bright teenagers who challenge her to get them interested in learning. Her friend and sister-in-law Addie, a doctor, enlists Amanda to help with her prison improvement project. I had hoped to see more of this plot point but perhaps that will expand in the next book.
All the threads come together in a grand finale including a bank robbery, shootings, the Army, more shootings, kidnappings and a runaway train. Amanda gets tied up but at least not to the railroad track and she does live up to her hair. It gets a bit convoluted but at least Amanda gets her man, Seth finds his brother and has a possible job prospect and everyone makes the wedding. I have my ideas about who the youngest Porterfield sibling will match up with – we’ll see if I guess correctly. B
~Jayne